The MovieDespite getting something of a late start on his directing career, Bennett Miller has been in no rush to fill up his IMDB entry, directing just three films in 10 years, all of which garnered multiple Oscar nominations. The latest, Foxcatcher shares a great deal in common with his debut, Capote, even if the lead characters couldn't be more disparate. Once again, Miller has shown a mastery for illustrating real life...Read the entire review

The MovieIt took a while to figure out what exactly the perspective of Wrestling for Satan might be. For most of the beginning, including a TV clip from a Christian morning show called At Home with Chuck & Jenni, it feels like an amazingly precise mockumentary, as it creates the world of the Christian Wrestling Foundation, a low-level Texas-based evangelical professional wrestling organization. The mix of religion and rasslin' seems ridiculous, and t...Read the entire review

The MovieI've often said that if there's a director who personifies The Criterion Collection, it is Wes Anderson, but Nicolas Roeg, at least in the early portion of his career, comes in a strong second. His first five non-documentary films are an outstanding run, one of the best career starts in film history, with fascinatingly original films like Walkabout, Performance, Bad Timing and The Man Who Fell to Earth. Right in the middle of that quintet is a wacked-ou...Read the entire review

The MovieJake Gyllenhaal is an extremely talented and versatile actor, but to this reviewer, he's never better than when he's making audiences uncomfortable, going back to his breakout role in Donnie Darko. He has an innate gift for giving a character an edge that walks the tightrope between passionate and disturbed. Nightcrawler obliterates that line as Gyllenhaal makes his character, Lou Bloom, an icon of what one can achieve when you let nothing get in your way.

What's more adorable than kittens? Puppies! And kittens playing with puppies and puppies playing with other baby animals! The spectrum of antics in this second season of America's Cutest ranges from sleepy puppies and kittens to daredevil puppies and kittens to sweet-as-sugar-and-then-some puppies/kittens. Each episode co...Read the entire review

The MovieIf Art and Craft took place in the Marvel Universe, Mark Landis would undoubtedly be one incredible villain. His back story, which includes mental illness, religion, family strife and obsession, would make for one fascinating bad guy. However, in reality, which is where directors Sam Cullman and Jennifer Grausman worked in putting together this documentary, Landis is much less of a menace, even if some might consider him something of a criminal. Landis is an incredibly talented forger, who cr...Read the entire review

The MovieOne doesn't have to watch more than a few minutes of The Zero Theorem to figure out that it's a film from Terry Gilliam (though you'd be excused if you guessed Luc Besson in a few spots.) This movie, the story of a reclusive data processor chasing the idea of purpose, fits in well with Gilliam's canon, representing the unleashed creativity and smart fable-weaving that marks films like Brazil and Time Bandits. It's also the work of a veteran artist who blends wondrous visuals with outstanding per...Read the entire review

The ShowIt's amazing how entire TV series can be created and aired with hardly anyone noticing they ever even existed. I don't watch a lot of FX since most of the shows I watched on that channel have moved to The Simpsons Channel, and as a result, I had no clue that the great Judy Greer was starring in her own sort-of sitcom, and that even better, it also featured the hilarious Jenny Slate, Brett Gelman and John Hodgman. Not until it crossed my path on shiny discs was Married even a co...Read the entire review

The MovieThe Guy Fieri-zation of food television has brought on a wave of shows focused on the personality of the host, which have only served to stand as proof of the quality of shows that remain centered on the food and the people who prepare it. A good story is a good story, and no amount of "donkey sauce" is going to change that. That's why The Great Chicken Wing Hunt works as a documentary. There's so much story going on, the wings almost have to battle for screentime (in a film...Read the entire review

The Story So Far...One of NBC's spotlight sitcoms during the 1980s, The Facts of Life spun housekeeper Edna Garrett (Charlotte Rae) from Diff'rent Strokes off into her own series, where she acted as a surrogate mother to her gaggle of students from the Eastland private school for girls. The show ran for nine seasons, of which five seasons have been released on DVD, in four box sets. DVDTalk has Read the entire review

The ShowFOX has a long history of putting unique, quality shows on the air, doing little to support them and then cancelling them prematurely, sending them off into cult fandom where they live on forever (at least Human Target got a second season.) The latest to receive this treatment is Enlisted, a single-camera sitcom set on a Florida army base, which lasted for 13 episodes (nine of which aired before cancellation came calling.) I c...Read the entire review

The MovieWhen you put positive quotes from two members of Monty Python on your box art, along with the blurb "One if the top ten British comedies of 2013," you are raising expectations. Expectations like, this movie won't involve the physical or psychological trauma of children. Well, consider those expectations to be dashed when you watch Search for Simon, an independent sort-of-comedy from British writer/director Martin Gooch. About 80 per...Read the entire review

The MovieAsk anyone who's known me since my college days who my favorite director is, and the likely answer will be Kevin Smith. You couldn't find a bigger fan than me, as I felt I shared a kinship with the writer/director of Clerks, as we were both overweight, hockey-loving film fanatics from the tri-state area with a love for the written word, who had been singled out by the Catholic League's Bill Donohue, and never did I feel closer to him than w...Read the entire review

]]> This is Where I Leave You (Blu-ray)Blu-rayhttp://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=66522
Sun, 21 Dec 2014 05:09:56 PSTRecommended

In 10 Words or LessIncredible cast in a credible tale of family strife

The MovieOutside of his family, you're not likely to find anyone who would name Shawn Levy as their favorite director. That's not a reflection on his ability as a filmmaker, but rather his preferred genre, as he makes very broad, middle-of-the-road films, like the Night at the Museum franchise or the Steve Martin version of The Pink Panther, which are engineered to appeal to the widest audience possible, while lacking in the personal style or perspective that's associated with direct...Read the entire review

The MovieI won't go into it again in detail, but I love when a good comedic actor does drama. I think it takes a hell of a lot of talent to pretend to be someone else and make that person funny in a way that's different than being funny as yourself. But for some reason, once you make a living making people laugh, it seems hard to get people to do anything else (see Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love, so many more.) Now, put together two people known for being funny, bu...Read the entire review

The ShowIn reviewing Nick Kroll's 2011 stand-up special, I summed up the show by writing "If this special was an hour of Kroll on stage with a mic telling jokes, I would be hailing it as a new classic of stand-up comedy, but his character sketches kill the momentum and are honestly not too funny, especially when they follow Kroll's far funnier jokes."

Well, apparently, if you take those sketches and put them in their own show, they get a lot better, which is exactly what Comedy Central's Kroll Show de...Read the entire review

The MovieLots of people were wondering what Marvel was thinking when they decided to make a major motion picture around one of their more obscure properties, putting a comic actor in the lead and handing the reins to a writer/director mainly known for hard-to-define cult films. But then, suddenly Edgar Wright was no longer at the helm of Ant-Man, much to the dismay of film fans worldwide. The decision looked bad, as the film struggled to pull itself out of a pre-p...Read the entire review

The MovieFor a film fan in 1998 who was enjoying Todd Hayne's breakthrough glam-rock drama Velvet Goldmine, and who most likely enjoyed Julianne Moore's incredible performance in the previous year's Boogie Nights, looking back to 1995 one could find an interesting junction between the two, as Safe offered Hayne's first mainstream directing gig and Moore's first leading role. A dark film about a woman whose own body (or perhaps mind) is turning against her, Saf...Read the entire review

The ShowCourt TV was something of a phenomenon in its time, building an audience around a fascination with the legal system that gripped America in the 90s, thanks to in-court coverage of high-profile cases like the Menendez brothers and O.J. Simpsons cases. Eventually though, the niche fell through, and the channel became TruTV, with a schedule powered by low-budget reality television, before eventually being rebranded as truTV, a channel with no clear identity. As I write this, looking at the evenin...Read the entire review

Reviewer's Bias*Loves: Ridiculous stuff, comedy, the majority of the series' recreatorsLikes: Derek Waters, the majority of the narratorsDislikes: HistoryHates: Drunks

The ShowOnce again, the Internet has delivered unto us something wonderful. Starting life as a web series, Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner's Drunk History builds on a brilliantly simple concept: people who are drunk love to tell stories and they usually have trouble doing so. So, if you focus that idea, and have those drunks only tell historical stories, and then recreate those stories, using the actual inebriated ramblings as the dialogue, you get an ingenious littl...Read the entire review

Reviewer's Bias*Loves: The 60s Batman seriesLikes: Batman in general, the core villains on the showDislikes: King TutHates: Collectible pack-ins

The ShowNot too long ago, I spent more time than I like to think about recording all the episodes of the 1960s Batman series from television. I figured, there's no chance I'm ever going to get authorized copies of these shows, and I'm not about to pay the outrageous prices charged for bootleg copies at comic conventions. I should have known though, as I recorded and archived the last one, that an announcement of new DVDs and Blu-rays would be made. So if you were looking forward to this releas...Read the entire review

The Story So Far...What's kept Criminal Minds going for nine seasons? The answer is simple when you have a cast of actors that pour every ounce of their creative being into their characters and a writing staff with the ability to come up with the most insane, demented a...Read the entire review

The MovieThough I'm no Brony, I certainly enjoy watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic with my daughter, as it has a fun sense of humor and an enjoyable animation style. Thus, I have a working knowledge of the franchise. What I was unaware of was the nature of the Equestria Girls offshoot, which to me looked like the brand's attempt to snag some of the fashion doll market, using the fans of the ponies as a foot in the door. My daughter's Rainbow Dash Equestria Girls doll confirmed this for m...Read the entire review

The Story So Far...Several alumni of the cult comedy troupe "The State" gathered together again for Reno: 911!, which parodies the well-known format of Cops, by following a crew of inept sheriffs. Made up mostly of inspired improv performances, the show features the sexually-ambiguous Lt. Jim Dangle (Thomas Lennon) who leads a less-than-successful law-enforcement effort. Each episode shows several "busts," in addition to the main story, so there are plenty of chances for laughs in comedy that...Read the entire review

The MovieIf the fine people at Everything is Terrible and The Found Footage Festival have taught us anything, it's that VHS was home to any number of bizarre releases, as companies took every opportunity to wring dollars out of the format's popularity. There's got to be tons of great material out there that's never been seen outside of magnetic tape, just begging for a second life as a DVD release. Until now, The Compleat Al, a mockumentary charting the life and career of come...Read the entire review

The MovieThough at first glance it makes little sense that "Weird Al" Yankovic hasn't acted in many movies over the course of his long entertainment career, a little bit of thought makes it readily understandable. After all, there's a reason why he's made so many appearances as Weird Al. It's his own per...Read the entire review

The SetAfter giving a quick look at French actor/writer/director Jacques Tati's early films, those new to his work could easily think he should be slotted alongside classic silent-comedy stars like Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, as his abilities as a mime and with physical comedy, as well as the bemused quality of his characters fit that mold very well. However, Tati worked in a world of "talkies", even if you barely needed to understand a word spoken to really enjoy his movies, which frequently used society's obsession on progress, innovation and technology as a targ...Read the entire review

The Story So Far The story of a lovely lady and a man named Brady started in 1969 and was told for five seasons, as the blended Brady family, with three girls and three boys, represented an idyllic home life that gave America an escapist fantasy to enjoy, one that remains entertaining today, even if it is extremely cheesy and dated.

Paramount released the complete run of The Brady Bunch, seasons one through five, on DVD between February of 2005 and February of 2006. DVDTalk has Read the entire review

The Story So Far Mike and Carol Brady married back in 1969 and five seasons later, they had cemented their spot as one of TV's iconic families, three girls and three boys, brought together to create as perfect a family as possible. Today, the show is a campy relic of the past, but it's got plenty of charm as a retro memory for anyone who ever sat in front of a TV and wished they could have been a Brady.

Paramount released the complete run of The Brady Bunch, seasons one through five, on DVD between February of 2005 and February ...Read the entire review

The Story So Far Mike and Carol Brady's marriage brought together a family of six children, a household that lasted five years as an idyllic TV family before moving on to syndication immortality as a camp-tastic relic that's memorable to anyone fortunate enough to be babysat by a big console TV.

Paramount released the complete run of The Brady Bunch, seasons one through five, on DVD between February of 2005 and February of 2006. DVDTalk has Read the entire review

The Story So Far The story of a lovely lady and a man named Brady started in 1969 and was told for five seasons, as the blended Brady family, with three girls and three boys, represented an idyllic home life that gave America an escapist fantasy to enjoy, one that remains entertaining today, even if it is extremely cheesy and dated.

Paramount released the complete run ofThe Brady Bunch, seasons one through five, on DVD between February of 2005 and February of 2006. DVDTalk has Read the entire review

The Story So Far Mike and Carol Brady got together in 1969 and for five seasons they shared their three girls and three boys, creating an idyllic fantasy home life for a country that was locked in turmoil. Today, it may be dated and goofy, but it's still entertaining when taken as part time capsule, part cheesy family-friendly comedy.

Paramount released the complete run of The Brady Bunch, seasons one through five, on DVD between February of 2005 and February of 2006. DVDTalk has Read the entire review

The MovieAt this point, we can pretty much accept that if Aubrey Plaza deems a script worthy of her starring in it, that said film should be watched. After a trifecta like Safety Not Guaranteed, The To-Do List and now Life After Beth, it's safe to say that she's going to deliver a quirky, unique and enjoyable experience on a consistent basis (especially when you include her work in Parks and RecreationRead the entire review

The MovieThe only reason I have any knowledge of the world of Bella Sara, a collectible card game based in a world of magical horses, is because I have an 8-year-old daughter fascinated by games like Pokemon and the like. She has asked me to buy one pack of Bella Sara cards, and one only. Apparently, one pack of horsey cards was enough to satisfy her curiosity about this world. One would assume she is not alone, as it seems like the last release of Bella Sara cards was in 2012. Ho...Read the entire review

The MovieFor some reason, one clear memory from my childhood is going with my father when he had to help a friend move. I remember going, but not helping (as I was much smaller than him and his friends.) So, instead, I sat against the wall in the kitchen reading my copy of Clive Barker's Cabal, which I had recently received from the Science-Fiction Book Club. I was entranced by the story of Boone, a troubled man who finds himself living in a hidden society of monsters, ...Read the entire review